The text of a conversation with a Florida special education administrator explores such aspects as the skills that are being tested, how standards were derived, the effects of testing on curricula, special diplomas, and the improvement in scores noted in the second year of the testing. (DLS)

Competency based education (CBE) programs can increase pupil motivation, provide the opportunity to individualized instruction, and enable the school to communicate better to the pupil and the public what pupils are learning in school, according to the author. But he lists eight traps that lie hidden in the CBE movement, including further…

Proficiency testing, the measurement of what a person can do as a result of learning, is used increasingly in higher education to determine whether students have mastered basic skills or whether they deserve credits for specific courses (which they may not have actually taken). The motivation for proficiency testing stems from general…